Lemony Sheath Dress

Can't you just hear Pee-Wee Herman now? "Mmmm, Leee-mony!" I kept hearing his voice in my head as I was sewing this dress! I am crazy for both Pee-Wee and lemon prints, so I was super excited that this one was chosen to be in my spring fabric collection. It's a 100% cotton sateen, opaque with a soft drape.

Black Sateen Lemon Print

I decided this print needed a simple, classic dress silhouette, so I decided on a summer sheath dress. The pattern is from Gertie's Ultimate Dress Book. I matched the strapless bodice with the pencil skirt, and made two simple straps to go with it.

The dress made its debut for Viva Las Vegas! I've never been before, and it was so cool to see everyone done up Rockabilly style. I tried to make my hair and makeup as '50s fabulous as possible, though the windy days made me wish I had invested in better hairspray.

Of course, flats are essential when doing a lot of walking!

Construction-wise, the only complicated thing about this dress is the bodice. It's both lined and underlined in black Kona cotton, and then boning channels are sewn to the lining layer. Steel boning is inserted throughout. I find boning to be essential for a dress like this, because it keeps a closely fitted bodice smooth throughout. Ten rows is my minimum for this bodice design, and that's what I used here. The most important placement points, in my opinion, are over the princess seams, side seams, diagonally on each side of the bust, and on either side of the zipper. 

Here's the inside of the dress. I didn't line the skirt, because I loved how the fabric drapes on its own and I didn't plan to wear hosiery with the dress. 

 I lightened this one a bit so you can see the boning channels.

I love how the boning keeps the back of the bodice smooth. I used a lapped zipper, my preferred method. 

This print is also available with a blue background on a cotton lawn. It has a lighter, almost gauzy feel to it, and I'm definitely going to make a full-skirted dress with it. 

This dress uses the same bodice and skirt pattern as two other dresses in the book! Can you see the basic similarity?

Faux Sarong Dress, Gertie's Ultimate Dress Book

Fringed Cocktail Dress, Gertie's Ultimate Dress Book

The latter two use the sweetheart option on the bodice, rather than the straight neckline. But see how much you can do with some different straps and trims, using the same bodice and skirt?

Purple Pom Pom Explosion Skirt

So I have this skirt from Modcloth, and it's the best basic retro skirt ever. Whenever I post pictures
of me in it (which is often, because it foes with freaking everything), I get tons of questions about it. Naturally, this being a sewing blog, people assume I made it. How embarrassing to admit that I didn't! (Any seamstress will relate to this feeling, I'm sure.) Because, while I didn't make it, I surely could have! It's just two circle skirts sewn together at the waistband. It doesn't even have a lining!

Paired with Pink Floral Casual Blouse

Paired with Purple Floral Knit Top

To regain my pride, I decided to make my own version of the skirt. Is it a nice, neutral basic like the original? I'm afraid not. It's done in a purple atomic print with yards and yards of pom pom trim and a purple lace-trimmed lining. I always felt like the original design was a missed opportunity to call out the double hem with a trim, and I'm currently obsessed with pom poms, so it was a natural pairing.

Here's how I did it. I made two circle skirt patterns for my waist size (I always get out my copy of my first book to remember how to do this, but there are instructions all over the internet too). One skirt pattern is 24.5" long and the other is 22.5" long. I cut the longer skirt pattern out in the atomic print, and then cut the shorter skirt pattern out in the atomic print and the lining. You'll need a front and a back for each layer of skirt. As you can imagine, this takes a lot of fabric. But the feeling of fullness with the three layers is fantastic.

Sew all the side seams, leaving an opening on one side of each layer for a zipper. I inserted an invisible side sip into the short atomic layer only. We'll call this the "outer layer" now. Then place the lining into the long atomic skirt, wrong sides together and baste around the top and the zipper opening. Clip into the seam allowances at the base of the zipper opening (this allows you to turn them in and slipstitch to the zipper tape.) We'll treat this unit as the "lining layer" from here on out.

Drop the lining layer into the outer layer and baste them together around the waistline. Turn in the zipper opening seam allowances on the lining lining and slip stitch them to the zipper tape.

Next, I made a waistband! It's two inches high and has a one inch underlap for the button fastening. I inserted petite pom pom trim into the top and bottom of the waistband (tutorial here).



Next, I let the skirt hang for almost 48 hours on my dress form to let the bias settle. Finally, I evened up the hemlines on all three layers (the bias stretched quite a bit on the cotton sateen, but not on the lining). I made sure that the bottom layer was still exactly two inches longer than the top layer. I serged the bottom of each outer layer, then basted large pom pom trim to the very edge, with the pom poms facing upwards. Warning: get 10.5 yards of pom pom trim for this! I had 10 and just barely eked it out. Flip the pom poms trim to the inside of the skirt and then top stitch in place.



I serged purple lace to the lining hem. I love how all the layers look together!

Do a button and buttonhole on the waistband, and that's it! An explosion of purple and pom poms that's surprisingly wearable.

Hey, I also got new glasses! I couldn't find a decent cateye anywhere so I ordered these frames from Victory Optical and had my prescription put in. I love them so much. 

I'm dying to make a version of this skirt in plain black with pom poms. Adding it to the project queue! (I found an Etsy shop that sells pom pom trim in bulk for a really great price. You have to wait for it to come from Asia, but it may well be worth it. I'll let you know!) 

Poodle Blouse!

Here's another version of B6217, this time in flocked poodle chiffon! This is one of my new fall fabrics, available here. I love flocked fabrics so much, and poodles just make everything better.

For this version of the blouse, I left off the bust ties and used the puff sleeve rather than the tulip sleeve. I added pom pom trim around the neckline and sleeves and a little black velvet bow at the center. I made a little alteration to the puff sleeve: it was a little big around the hem, so I added some gathers to the sleeve hem as well.

I paired it with store-bought capris (Modcloth!) and two-tone black and white Bass Weejuns. Retro Casual!

Chiffon can be tricky to sew, of course. I used French seams for a nice finish on the inside. For the facings, I used this technique of "facing a facing" which gives a really clean edge. I used plain grey chiffon, interfaced with grey tulle. Here is the facing, pinned to the neckline. 

This gave a nice sheer finish from the outside.

I wore a camisole underneath but I might try being super daring and just wear a bra sometime. Anyway, I'm so in love with these little flocked poodles!

Make This Top! Free Vintage-Inspired Knit Project

I've wanted to do a tutorial for a simple knit top for the longest time! Well, Joann Fabrics asked me to do a free project to coincide with the release of my new fabric line, which includes knits. So this seemed like the perfect time to finally make this thing happen. 

I'm happy to share the Simple Knit Top project, with free instructions on the Joann site. This sample is made in my new Rayon Spandex Floral Knit in purple (also available in red and gray). This knit is surprisingly easy to sew with, and it has a lovely drape and hand. 

The top takes an hour or even less to make! What makes it so easy is that it's just two rectangles sewn together, with openings left for the neck and arms. The dimesions on the Joann site are for roughly a size medium, but you can adjust them depending on your shoulder and hip width. (If this doesn't make sense, don't worry: I'm planning a post with more detailed instructions with photos.)

It's a great top for layering and pairing with a '50s style skirt (either slim or full).

Stayed tuned for another post on this, and check out the project on Joann in the meantime!

Gertie Fabrics Are Here!

What an insanely busy few weeks this has been, readers! I took a whirlwind trip out to Puyallup for the Sewing and Stitchery Expo and got back just in time for two weeks of photo shoots for my upcoming Gertie's Ultimate Dress Book. In the midst of it all, my first line of fabric was released! Joann Fabrics now has the full Gertie line in stores. I was so excited when I saw them in my local store in Poughkeepsie, NY!

Would you like to know what each fabric is? Yes? Okay, here we go.

First, a classic rose print on a swiss dot! This is lightweight and textured, and would be perfect for blouses and dresses.

Swiss Dot Roses

I have my freshman design students at Marist College make tank tops as a first project, and I sewed my sample in this rose print. You can see the swiss dot texture here!

Here's another swiss dot with a floral-bow stripe print! This was inspired by Horrockses dresses of the '40s and '50s. I would love to see this with a chevron design on a bodice, like Vintage Vogue 8789.

Swiss Dot Stripe

Next, a rose border print with polka dots on cotton sateen.

Border Print Rose Sateen

I designed Butterick 6167 specifically with this print in mind. Here it is on display in Puyallup!

Is it okay to have a favorite fabric in your own collection? Because mine might be this one. Huge roses in lovely pink and red tones on a black background. This is also a sateen. My next project is to make a half circle skirt in this for spring.

Sateen Rose in Black 

It also comes in coral and yellow on cotton poplin! I want to make a HUGE full-skirted dress in this to go flouncing about in.

Coral Rose Poplin

Of course, we couldn't do without a tropical floral print sateen. This would be perfect in a Shaheen-esque pattern like my Butterick 6019.

Tropical Floral Sateen

Cherries! We have them on an aqua background in a heavenly rayon challis with an amazing drape.

Cherries on Aqua Rayon Challis

And on a white background on crisp cotton poplin.

Cherries on White Cotton Poplin

Another favorite: KITTIES. This is inspired by a 40s novelty print and is done on a poly chiffon with a sheer windowpane background. I was hesitant about polyester, but when I felt this one I was so in love! It has a really nice hand and feel to it. (Also, the grey kitty is my Henry. Obviously.) I'm going to be making the "40s-Style Blouse" from Gertie Sews Vintage Casual in this print. More to come.

Poly Dobby Chiffon Kitties

Also on the poly windowpane chiffon: BOWS!

Poly Dobby Chiffon Bows

Don't worry, I didn't forget the doggie lovers. Poodles and polka dots on cotton lawn. Squee!

Poodle Dot Lawn

Next, a mini-collection of three grey chambrays. These are all cotton and feel so nice. In little white bows:

Chambray Bow Print

Pink cherries.

Chambray Cherry Print

And red polka dots:

Chambray Polka Dot Print

Embroidered strawberries! This is on a medium weight ribbed-texture cotton.

Embroidered Strawberry Cotton

And finally (whew!): a really cool novelty weave fabric. It's a swiss dot cotton with polka dot chiffon "pinwheels" appliqued on top. This is super special and would make a beautiful full circle skirt.

Embroidered Swiss Dot in Black 

It also comes in pink!

Embroidered Swiss Dot in Pink 

Well, there they are! They are in Joann stores and on their website (which ships to the US and Canada. I will be doing a giveaway for international readers, so look out for that soon). I really hope you like them, readers. I would love to extend a huge thanks to Fabric Traditions, who made the line a reality, my supporters at Butterick, and of course Joann Fabrics and their dedicated sewing-obsessed employees.

Now that all my sewing for the dress book is done, I plan to spend some time making myself a spring wardrobe in these fabrics. More to come!